Recycling after Christmas: Which items belong on the nice and naughty lists?

USA TODAY NETWORK
·2 min read

With the upcoming holidays, Rumpke will not be servicing the township recycling bins on Christmas Day. This means sites that are serviced on Mondays will experience a large gap in when bins will be emptied. The Ottawa Sandusky Seneca Solid Waste District is asking residents to be patient.

These bins will fill up fast with recycling from holiday activities and will be backfilled for a couple of days after Christmas as Rumpke haulers catch up. If you go to your township recycling site and bins are filled to the lid, OSS asks that you come back another day. Do not leave your material beside the bins — wind will blow away any material left outside the bin, creating litter.

Patience needed during holiday season

Make sure after using the bins that all lids are properly shut. Winter winds can blow out recyclable material when lids are not fully closed, resulting in extreme litter. If an excess amount of snow or ice covers the bin lids, please notify the township trustees so they can remove it. Heavy snow on top of the bins can cause costly damage.

Christmas lights, as well as ribbons, tissue paper, and foil wrapping paper, are all naughty and should NOT go in the recycling bin
Christmas lights, as well as ribbons, tissue paper, and foil wrapping paper, are all naughty and should NOT go in the recycling bin

Above all, be safe when traveling. Recycling can wait until after the holidays if inclement weather is expected.

Expect higher volumes of items in the bins

With anticipation of higher volumes in the bins over the holidays, some tips to helpsave space in the recycling bin are as follows:

  • Do not leave your material on the ground beside the containers if the bins are full. Simplycome back another day. Recycling can wait when littering becomes the alternative.

  • Do not bag the recyclables. Flimsy plastics like bags become tanglers and limit recycling.Leave material loose in the bin.

  • Break down and flatten cardboard boxes to save space. Curious to know what festive holiday materials are naughty and nice to go in OSS’s drop off recycling bins? Ribbons, Christmas lights, tissue paper, and foil wrapping paper are all naughty and should NOT go in the recycling bin. However, flattened gift boxes, greeting cards and envelopes, wrapping paper and gift bags that are not made of foil or covered in glitter are all nice and can be recycled in the bin.

  • Break down and flatten cardboard boxes to save space.

The News-Messenger/News Herald

This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: Some Christmas items are on the recycling naughty list